Without Words
by nubesdelchocolate
Summary: Rayne, Jayne was a man of few words, River had too many that never came out right. A series of short fics
1. Prologue

**Without Words**

AN: This will be a series of short fics, 5 total, showing River and Jayne's relationship silently progressing.

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**PROLOGUE**

River and Jayne hardly ever spoke to each other. Jayne was a man of few words, River had too many that never came out right.

They knew now that words were overrated. They were unnecessary between them and they were not what their relationship was based on. And even though there was sex, with Jayne there would have to be, their relationship wasn't based on that either.

It was based on understanding, not only what the other was saying or rather _not_ saying, but what the other _was_. There was no denying that they were weapons: deadly, cold and even merciless when they had to be.

They understood that there was more, too. A deep need to be loved and accepted by someone, for one cannot live on fear and intimidation alone.

So, it was no surprise that their friendship began, but it was a little more surprising how silently it started.


	2. Mr Universe's

**Without Words**

AN: Ok, I know that the "after the stand-down order" fic has been done to death, but for me this is where the new River and Jayne were created, so I had to start here. Please review, I posted this chapter so quickly because of Ellisguy and HeyTeach's fast responses, they made me happy!

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**Mr. Universe's**

So, it was no surprise that their friendship began, but it was a little more surprising how silently it started.

Once the blast doors opened, Jayne had been the only one who could get up and go to River. Mal hadn't been standing for very much longer and Inara was too busy trying to help a bleeding Simon and a freshly stabbed Mal.

After the guns dropped, the medics had rushed in and the soldiers had run down the hall to get to the lower levels and their trapped leader. Everyone skirted River who remained frozen in the middle of a pile of reaver bodies.

Jayne lumbered to his feet, his hand pressed tightly to his shoulder to stop the bleeding. He shrugged off the medic who tried to get him to sit back down and walked out of the hallway.

He couldn't get right up close to River because of all the bodies, and he wasn't sure he really wanted to. He stopped about six feet away, not quite knowing what he was going to do, but knowing he had to do it.

Their eyes met and held and for a while they stayed like that. Both were oblivious to the movements around them.

Jayne felt he should tell her about how he didn't want to turn her in anymore. In fact, he was mighty glad that she was there. He was grateful for what she had just done for all of them. He wanted to tell her that he had been impressed, hell, he even had a new kind of respect for her. She had just slain the monsters of his nightmares and that meant something to him. He wanted to say all these things, but his mouth remained shut and his eyes remained locked on hers.

Then he saw her face relaxing a little more with each thought that passed through his head. He slowly brought his hand, covered in his own blood, up and held it palm up out to her.

Her blades didn't even clank when they hit the ground, instead falling silently onto the bodies they had made. Then she reached out her hand, covered with blood that was not her own, to take Jayne's.

Their grip was firm and sure and she stepped carefully over the bodies towards Jayne. He kept hold of her hand as he pulled her out of the station and out to the landing strip, toward Serenity.

Now, walking with Jayne beside her, the crew being patched up on pallets outside the ship, and with Serenity towering overhead, River knew she was coming home.


	3. The Mess

**Without Words**

AN: I'm a little sorry to update this, "why?" you may ask, did I not like this part? am I second guessing the whole story idea? No, it's because when I posted the first two parts my word count was 666 and that made me giggle :) Thank you again to my reviewers, I love getting comments!

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**The Mess**

Mal witnessed their new silent friendship one night before dinner. Jayne had kitchen duty and he was hovering over the stove, dropping in some protein that was not entirely unlike carrots into a stew and going back to chop up some celery-like sticks.

River had wandered in a little while before and was currently using the knife that Jayne had been using on the carrots to cut up a loaf of bread that their last contact had given them. The contact was a nice sort of fellow and his wife, who was terrified of space travel, always sent along some homemade food for Mal and his crew.

River had, as always, floated in silently on bare feet and taken up her place at the counter to start on the equally quiet task of bread slicing. Jayne had never turned around and along with the noisily boiling stew, Jayne was incapable of doing anything quietly.

Mal sat back in his chair at the table to watch the show. He couldn't wait until Jayne turned around looking for the knife and saw River right behind him and with the weapon in her hand.

It's not often you see your merc jump and yelp, so Mal was completely disappointed and a bit shocked when Jayne simply reached out his hand and River handed the knife back to him. Neither had turned or said a word.

Mal's confusion grew when Jayne reached into the cabinet over his head and passed into River's waiting hand a basket to put the bread into. They continued like that throughout the entire preparation of the meal without any acknowledgment of the other.

Finally, the stew was done, the table set, River had moved Mal's work off the table with a cheerful, "Evening, Cap'n!" Now, the crew was trickling in, making small talk and filling the mess with sound where before there had been only silence.

River was holding bowls while Jayne was filling them for everyone. Everyone but River and Jayne had full bowls in front of them and Jayne had just finished scooping out their portions.

Taking the bowls from River, Jayne walked around the counter to put them in their adjacent places at the table. Mal watched River pull a spoon from the drawer, which confused Mal as everyone already had one.

He didn't have long to wonder because at that moment Kaylee, in the middle of a lively story, knocked her spoon off the table with a particularly wild gesture. She looked down at the spoon lying on the dirty mess floor and wrinkled her nose.

"Oh! Shoot! Now I need a new one."

"Here," Jayne handed her the spoon that River had just pulled out of the drawer, but she was still in the kitchen.

Now River came around to sit and start eating. Mal's eyes narrowed. He hadn't seen how the spoon had gotten from River's hand to Jayne's in only a moment, but he had a sneaking suspicion that she had thrown it and Jayne had caught it, no doubt not needing to turn around then either.

River reached for the slice of bread on Jayne's plate, but Jayne was way ahead of her, stopping her hand by shoving another piece into it from the basket. He glared at her, but she just smiled brightly at him, and then, to Mal's complete shock, Jayne got a grin on his own face and offered her the butter type spread.

Ugh, Mal had a feeling he was going to miss the good old days when River and Jayne bickered like children day and night.


	4. The Infirmary

**Without Words**

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**The Infirmary**

Their first kiss, the realization of their deeper feelings for each other, and the beginning of their new relationship all happened at the same time.

And the whole crew was there to see it.

The job had gone very badly and now Jayne was being operated on while Zoe assisted. Inara was doing her best for Mal, who would need stitches and weaves eventually, but Jayne had taken two shots to the belly.

The takeoff was shaky, not just because the traitors on the ground were still trying to shoot them down, but because River couldn't see very well through the tears that were pouring down her face.

But they got out of atmo and had put enough distance between them and the planet that River could finally put the ship on auto-pilot. River got up and walked down the hall and through the mess. She met Kaylee at the opening to the stairs leaving the engine room.

River had gotten some control back now that Jayne was resting quietly in the infirmary, but Kaylee could see that her friend's eyes were puffy and red. She gave River a quick hug and then started pulling her down the stairs, "Let's go check on the boys!"

Mal was resting on the couch, his head pillowed on Inara's lap while she stroked his hair. She looked up from the book she was reading to Mal and they both smiled at the two girls as they came down the stairs.

River barely saw any of that though, as her legs carried her around the corner and into the infirmary. Jayne was laid out on the chair, heavily bandaged with a couple of tubes sticking out of his arm. He looked asleep, but his eyes opened as soon as River stepped into the room.

She could feel the tears waiting to take over again and brought her hand up to her mouth to stifle a sob.

Simon turned around then and said quickly, "Mei mei, he's going to be fine."

But River didn't even spare her brother a glance. Jayne smiled and held out a hand. River was across the room in a second, she took Jayne's hand and found herself being pulled down for a kiss.

A really chaste and sweet kiss that was over before the crew could even process what they had just seen.

Then River walked over to a cabinet and pulled out another blanket and a pillow. After making Jayne more comfortable, she pulled up a chair and sat, taking Jayne's hand once again.

The others finally broke their silence when Simon ventured, "River, did you just kiss Jayne?"

"Yes," came the casual reply.

"How long has this been going on?" Mal called into the room, ready to have his suspicions about the dinner-making thing confirmed. He knew there had been something going on for a very long–

"2 minutes, 53 seconds"

"That was a first kiss?! 'Cause I ain't never seen a first kiss go that easy," Kaylee piped up and was surprised when it was Jayne who answered.

"Ya, it was, but I dunno, just seemed like the thing to do, just felt natural, right, ya know?"

River smiled broadly and nodded. Then she leaned down and popped another kiss on Jayne's lips.

"Hmmm, I'm not sure I'd use the word natural." River stuck her tongue out at Simon.

"Still," Kaylee continued, "it's like they've been together a long time, I ain't never seen people so at ease right from the start."

"It was that easy for me and Wash." Zoe's quiet statement silenced them all. "River, I'll go take the helm, you take your time down here." River smiled gratefully.

"River I'm going to take a nap, call if anything's wrong, and wake me up in a few hours to take out the IV," and with that unspoken acceptance, Simon left the infirmary.

As he passed by Kaylee, she reached out and grabbed his hand. He smiled down at her before they both continued toward Simon's bunk.

River got up and closed the door with a nod at Inara and Mal. Inara smiled and mouthed, "Congratulations."

River came back to her chair and once again took Jayne's hand. There was nothing to say, which is how it always was between them.

Their eyes met and Jayne quirked an eyebrow. That was all it took for River to lean over to give him a proper first kiss, full of all the passion that they had held back before.

When they finally pulled away, River could only hear one thing, and she couldn't tell if it came from her mind or his.

_Wow_


	5. The Cargo Bay

**Without Words**

AN: Honestly, this is my favorite in this series and I wish I could have put it last, but timeline wise it had to go here. Only one more to go after this. Thank you for the wonderful reviews!

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**The Cargo Bay**

Simon walked in to River's room and found himself staring at nothing, absolutely nothing. Nothing was what was in the closet, nothing was what was on the floor, and nothing was what was on the bed. The room was empty.

Turning around and walking back out, he looked up and down the hallway, thinking that perhaps he had walked into one of the unused passenger dorms by mistake. But no, there was his room, full of everything but nothing (when had he acquired so many belongings?), staring back at him from across the hall.

Turning around once again, just to be sure that River's room hadn't refilled itself, he sighed and tugged on an earlobe. It looked like he had to find River and get an explanation, no matter how bizarre it might be.

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The first person that Simon found was Jayne, sharpening his knives in the cargo bay.

"Jayne? Have you seen River?"

"Not for a couple of hours."

"Do you know where she might be?"

"Ya, did you check our bunk?"

"No, I've hardly searched anywhere ––– Did you just say 'our bunk'?"

Jayne never even paused his sharpening, "Ya, that's where she was when I left her, she was unpacking her books and said I weren't needed nomore."

"Unpacking!" Simon meant it as a normal question, but it came out all high pitched like a squeak.

"Ya."

"You can't mean– she's moving in with you?"

"She's done moved in, carried the last box 'cross ship myself a couple hours ago."

"But, but– it's only been two weeks! You shouldn't even be moving around as much as you are. Don't you think it's too soon? What if something happens and you don't want to be living in the same room?"

"Don't see that happenin', but it only took her a few hours to move it all in, so she could always move back out."

"Did you even think this through? I can't believe you agreed to it, you can't have been this indifferent when she asked you."

Jayne shrugged, "She didn't ask."

Simon paused in his hyperventilating, "What?"

"She never asked, first I knew about it was when she kicked open my hatch and yelled down for me to get off my ass and catch the box she was going to drop down to me."

"That was it? What did you do?"

"I got off my ass and caught the damn thing."

"Are you really ok with this, or – that's not why you're out here with knives, is it?"

"Nah, I just needed somethin' to do until she got the room set up the way she wants it, said I was in the way, she should be done any minute."

"No more minutes are needed, everything has a proper place now, I have improved it. My books have a home, my clothes are snuggling with yours, and my drawings of dolls are pinned up with yours."

A laugh exploded out of Simon, "Jayne has drawings of dolls?"

"Yes, pictures of naked dolls."

Simon's laughter died instantly, "His pictures of nude women? You left those up? I thought you said you improved the room? You want those kinds of pictures up in your bunk?"

"Of course, they are a part of Jayne, who needs no improvements or renovations. I simply consolidated so that two rooms could fit into one. Besides, those women are very hot."

Jayne moaned, set his knife down, and walked over to grab River, dragging her back to his – their– bunk. River followed most willingly.

"Wait! Your wounds! Too much exertion will be extremely painful."

Jayne looked back at Simon, then down to River, who ran the tip of her tongue over her lips so only he could see. Jayne continued out of the bay, throwing back over his shoulder, "It's worth it."


	6. On the Job

**Without Words**

AN: The last one folks, thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your reviews!

**On the Job**

When River and Jayne fought together they were unstoppable. River only went out on jobs when they wouldn't need her piloting skills to make a fast getaway. But when they were both in a fight, it was a thing of beauty.

River was a blur of grace and speed, leaving unconscious men in her wake. Jayne was raw power, he seemed as though he moved slowly compared to River, but one well placed punch knocked a guy out just as well as River's most elaborate flying kick.

What was uncanny, though, was the way Jayne seemed to read River's mind just as easily as she read his.

When River sent a man flying through the air and Jayne turned around and shot him before he fell back to the ground, Mal had an eerie flashback to when he was a boy and had launched clay pigeons for target practice.

Mal had plenty of time to observe them because he stayed on the sidelines now, only shooting when one of the men tried to run. Zoe had got the new job of ensuring that the money and the goods made it back to the mule if they were betrayed.

Betrayals happened less and less often nowadays as the stories spread of what happened – men waking up hours later with broken bones and headaches, most never waking up at all – when you betrayed Malcolm Reynolds.

Luckily, that reputation had spread along with the knowledge that if you played fair, Captain Reynolds and his crew could pull off almost any job imaginable.

So, Mal stayed out of the fights. If he tried to go in, he'd just get in the way and mess up this insane and deadly dance that only River and Jayne knew the steps to.

_Damn, they're good_, Mal thought. _Maybe they would like to go out for a quiet drink after the job. _

He had seen a nice looking bar back in town. He would just have to shake off Zoe's reminders that it was an Alliance friendly bar and that this was an _auspicious_ day.

THE END


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